I think for me, $10 is the end. $9 is really a bit unthinkable. I'll start waiting a while to pick up loose unless it's something I have to have. I set out to complete a carded set of TVC and that's gone now; it's a shame for the brand, because it was coming back. It will be interesting to see how much the price increase erodes the base.

I have been keeping a carded collection of the Original Trilogy TVC figures (so far), and I'm starting to re-think that as well. I've never been a carded collector, outside of the VOTC/VTSC lines and a few select other figures, but I thought it might be neat to "continue" the VOTC series with a carded set. Although I've caught up so far (through Han/Luke/R5-D4), I'm really starting to wonder if it is worth it to keep going on this. I don't necessarily have a place for them at the moment anyways, and with what figures are costing, I don't know if it is the smartest thing to do.

The higher prices would be a littler easier to stomach if the case assortments and retail distribution were better. At least if the case assortments were better, then ordering online wouldn't sting so much. But when they carry forward figures (PEGWARMERS) over and over, and stuff so many repacks in as well, they lose those potential sales. Should I really be spending $110.00 per case for essentially 5-6 figures I want? No, I just can't justify it and I will NOT take the figures I don't want to a retailer for them to add to their inventory.

And you see places like Target, who have had the same pegwarmers since AUGUST suddenly jack up those figures by another buck, a lot of consumers are going to shake their heads in disgust. And obviously there are a lot of factors that go into the rising costs at retail and we probably can't simplify it to just one or two reasons, but it just really is starting to make it a whole lot more difficult for collectors like myself to continue my current buying habits; which were lower in 2010 than I think any year since I graduated from college in 2000.

And it's not like Hasbro doesn't have some quality control issues that they need to take care of... when they have issues with green headed clones (and greening limbs on other troopers), that's an issue. Has Hasbro addressed this yet? If they have, I am not aware - but when sales dwindle on those figures, are they going to be honest and consider that their lack of quality control is a factor too? Did they ever consider that part of the reason that Indiana Jones might have flopped was because the paint jobs on the faces were horrid? Or the case assortments were a joke? And Comic Packs - the figure selections were really questionable near the end of the line, which was Hasbro's decision - yet they blamed the demise on collectors. Hasbro might like to point the finger at us when they think they can, but they are not completely innocent when there are failures in their lines.

I guess I have a lot of frustration with Hasbro lately, really since 2008. A lot of it is how they come across in the Q&As... really, it's not the end of the world to me if I stop collecting this stuff. My priorities have been changing over the past few years with being a parent, so this hobby is secondary now... and I have never, ever felt any loyalty toward Hasbro. If another company took over the line and did a better job, more power to them.

Would it be possible to, in collaboration with other Star Wars-collector websites (Scum, JTA...etc.), make front page reports asking Hasbro to lower their prices for $1 or 2? If Hasbro takes notice of a bunch of different websites doing this (they've said before they sometimes read forums), they might consider doing so.

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Would it be possible to, in collaboration with other Star Wars-collector websites (Scum, JTA...etc.), make front page reports asking Hasbro to lower their prices for $1 or 2? If Hasbro takes notice of a bunch of different websites doing this (they've said before they sometimes read forums), they might consider doing so.

Front page reports talking about higher prices are one thing and sort of a way of doing what you're asking; which has been done at a few sites lately. But ultimately, I don't see that making a dent in what we pay for figures.

Can it if it affects the mindset of the market buying stuff? Maybe, because what's going to make Hasbro take notice in my opinion is if sales start dipping - at which point hopefully the retailers will be willing to drop the prices some, and perhaps something can then convince Hasbro that in order for the line to stay competitive in the aisles, it's going to need to be appealing price-wise and not just rely on the popularity of the brand name.

Just something else to consider about all this. We've seen price hikes at the start of the year over many previous years. I don't have any insider knowledge to support this, but I do know that Hasbro works with their retailers to help determine an agreed upon shelf price. Maybe this is just how they go about testing price advances. Jack up the price at the start of the year and see how well sales go. If they're good enough, they've set a new base price. If not, it's easy enough to drop the price back down $1-2 and suddenly people feel like they're getting a deal. I will not be remotely surprised to see prices back down at $8 by April/May.

I'm certainly not one to poo-poo the idea, but I don't think it would impact Hasbro's decisions on the price-increase.

As was noted earlier in the thread, they were asked first-hand at Toy Fair about the issue and Hasbro's well aware of collector opinion on the hikes... they're not happy, and as consumers nothing is requiring them to like it.

The only way I'd see them cutting the prices is back is if there is a collective backlash from consumers. And it's going to probably take more than the "Collector" niche to cause that. I think if Hasbro sees the "casual" Star Wars consumer start to bail because of the price, then you'll see a real reaction. Collectors as well, but it's when CLone Wars buyers and the super popular characters start to sit for them that they'll really start to question what the increase is doing to the line.

Will it be enough? Only time will tell on that.

I like your optimism on it Jman, but part of that hope's fading for me. Price fluctuations aren't new though, so you're right. We'll see I guess. I'm seriously just riding this out right now, and waiting to see if I'm going to be here in a year or not.

I've been seeing a lot of reports on the (local) news how experts are predicting that gas prices will be over $5 a gallon this summer, and they seem pretty sure of it. I can't see how that's going to help the cost of figures, so this may get even uglier. I just don't know if I see them going down, at least not by much. At this point, if we got back in the $8 range for vintage it might be a victory. You never know though. Man do I miss the days of paying $4.99 for a figure during ROTS - but so much of that was the volume of stuff that was moving, and slightly different economic times as well.

I noticed that BBTS put the cases and sets up for order for waves 6 and 7. I always preorder sets there, since our local retail can tend to be a bit iffy. The cost for a set of six now? $90. It is always more than retail of course, but now it is $15 a figure. Compare it to a set of 6 there for Green Lantern Classics (6" figures with a BAF part) - $94, or even a set of 7 for DCUC (with BAF) for $105 I believe. Prices are up everywhere, but SW prices do indeed seem to be getting out of hand. Hopefully we'll see some sort of return to normalcy eventually, or I'm going to have to get mighty selective here as well. It would probably be cheaper for me to just focus on completing my original vintage collection

I like your optimism on it Jman, but part of that hope's fading for me. Price fluctuations aren't new though, so you're right. We'll see I guess. I'm seriously just riding this out right now, and waiting to see if I'm going to be here in a year or not.

I don't know ...just seems like we've seen this trend play out before. Price goes up too much. People gripe. Price comes back down a little and holds until next Jan.